Chapter 1
In a vast ocean, a single fruit floated, following wherever the current took it. It was shaped like a perfect star. The only thing that was wrong with it was that a bite had been taken from it, revealing dark orange meat inside. It floated on…
Look how much time has passed… Tenna thought as she sat at the jetty near her house and watched the soft low-tide waves lapping at her feet. Tomorrow I'll be seventeen, and I still remember it… She brushed her brown bangs out of her face, when something caught her eye.
It was about seven inches in diameter, had five arms, and was a strong golden yellow. At first, she mistook it for a starfish, when she noticed the leaf attached to a stem at one of the arms. A paopu fruit.
No way… she breathed. I thought those only grew on the Destiny Islands…
As she reached out to grab the fruit, she smiled. But the smile vanished as she remembered how things had changed the night of the ferocious storm three years ago, when she had found pieces of an old raft… and her best friend went missing. She gazed out over the horizon to the setting sun.
Meanwhile, on Destiny Islands, a group of three friends also watched the sun go down. Sora and Kairi sat next to each other on top of a bent-over paopu tree, Kairi's head leaning on Sora's shoulder, his hand around her waist. The two had been a couple for about two years, ever since coming home from the World that Never Was. Something special had happened the day they had returned, causing their feelings for each other to grow ever closer for the past two years. The third person leaned against the tree trunk with his arms crossed, long silvery-blue bangs blowing out of his face to reveal turquoise eyes. His eyes held some secret that he couldn't tell the others… at least not yet.
"Sora," he said turning his head to his friend, "Do you want to help me build another raft?"
"Huh?" Sora, now seventeen along with Kairi, leaned over to get a better look at his friend, causing the girl to reposition herself on his shoulder. "Where didthat thought come from all of a sudden?" He then noticed Riku's eyes shining, portraying all his thoughts. That was one trait the older boy couldn't get rid of: His eyes never lied.
"So? How about it?"
Sora paused to think, then answered, grinning broadly, "Nah, I think I'll stay here."
